WITH each day of flight disruption the pressure from airlines and airports on aviation safety bodies is getting more intense.

The stakes are massive. Tens of thousands of flights have been cancelled and millions of people’s lives affected by the volcanic ash.

The financial costs for airlines and airports are also extreme, coming on top of post-9/11 security, aviation fuel increases and the credit crunch.

Yet every passenger is trusting safety experts to balance those pressures against the perceived risks of air accidents. No matter how desperate Europe is to return to normality, there must be zero risk of an air crash.

In such unprecedented circumstances – the CAA calls it one of the biggest challenges the aviation industry has ever seen – any light at the end of this ash-filled tunnel is very welcome.

With eruptions from the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in Iceland weakening from Sunday morning, Scotland resumed flying this morning.

However, hopes that as the day progresses clearance should come south, perhaps as far as the Channel Islands, were dashed today by news of fresh eruptions.

It seems our islands will be among the last places in the British Isles to return to normality.

A break in the clouds, even if temporary, would be a welcome respite from a testing time that can only get worse in its economic impact the longer such problems go on.

While there has been a quaint retro feel to the islands’ sudden return to the days when sea travel ruled the waves, a long-term loss of air travel could do serious damage to the island’s standing as a financial centre.

Business meetings can only be put off for so long before clients will look elsewhere. Telephone and computer conferencing has its place, but there are times when only face-to-face contact will do.

The island has got used to hopping on a plane and having Geneva, Zurich, Paris, Manchester and London within easy reach.

Losing that option is not something that anyone would wish to contemplate.

A change in the wind has never looked so important.